Christina L. Sammet1, Jordan S. Muraskin2, Riti Mahadevia1, Ying Wu3, Hongyan Du3, Leon Epstein1, Babafemi Taiwo1, Ann B. Ragin1
1Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, United States; 2Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; 3Northshore University Healthsystem, Evanston, IL, United States
Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has reduced AIDS-related deaths worldwide; however, neurocognitive impairment is evident in nearly 50% of patients receiving treatment. The neuroprotective benefit of ART, therefore, is not well characterized. In order to assess the effects of treatment on the brain, this study used voxel based morphometry (VBM) to compare gray matter volume in treated and untreated HIV+ subjects and age matched controls. Results of this study indicate that gray matter reduction was more prominent in subjects who had initiated treatment than in those who were treatment naive.